GOAL success factors versus general AOFs

12-16-2010, 01:25 PM

Hi,

I've been very happy this year getting my runway, projects and areas of focus into shape, and as we come to the end of the year, I am running my first yearly review and have reached the dizzy height of 30,000 feet: GOALS for 2011.

As I run through the Natural Planning Method for each goal, each has resulted in a mind map with about ten Key Success Factors ( KSFs ). I can clearly see now that if I drive each KSF forward hard, then I will automatically achieve my goals for the year.

All I have to do now is keep reviewing these KSFs and keep assigning projects to them to keep them moving, which means they are behaving exactly like areas of focus. Oops...

If I turn them all into AOFs, then I have way too many AOFs.

If I fold the KSFs into a smaller set of AOFs, then it's difficult to maintain the goal-focusedness of each of the KSFs.

I could keep them in their mind maps for the goals, but then they seem too out of the way.

How can I drive my KSFs but use my AOFs to maintain balance and momentum in my general life?

Comment

If the KSF's have specific outcomes and you know when they are "done" or have been "met" then why not treat them as projects? You can always have sub projects related to these if you want to break specific smaller outcomes into projects.

Comment

Key success factors for Goals behave more like areas of focus. So if a person's goal were to get into a sports team by the end of the year then they may identify Training, Nutrition, Motivation and Planning as their key success factors. These will continue for the lifetime of the Goal or until a review session changes them.

So, in terms of information, they sit better with the Goal that they support, but in terms of review they should be reviewed at least as often as the areas of focus ( monthly ) to make sure they have a good set of projects.

There is also the issue of the meaningfulness of Goals in GTD versus AOFs.
For a person trying to get into an Olympic team, the Goal's KSFs would have the purpose of driving the goal to success while the AOF's purpose is to maintain balance in the person's life. This impacts the way these are handled during review.

What about review? If Goal KSFs are kept with AOFs, then they'd be reviewed monthly.

Given that Goals are a key part of GTD's 6 horizons of focus, I'm not sure what I'm missing in terms of review, in order to keep a 1 year goal moving at pace and make sure that it is visible above the regular AOFs.